GM CEO Henderson Says Buick is a Core Brand, UAW Talks Could Reopen if Need Be

Hoping to clarify his positions on some of the key issues facing GM at the moment, newly promoted CEO Fritz Henderson told the Detroit Free Press that the company was not against reopening talks with the UAW if need be."I don't think it's a real good idea at this point for us to take anything off the table," Henderson said.Henderson stressed that GM had not asked the UAW to reopen labor talks again, but that it would not rule out the possibility if GM's financial situation warranted it. Henderson also stressed that GM is committed to putting together a viability plan that will not be rejected again by the U.S. Government. "We won't do it a third time," he said. Part of that plan will be the retention of GM's core brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick. "Why on Earth would we rid ourselves of the Buick brand?" Henderson said, going on to mention thatBuick is a leading brand in China, an important emerging car market.Source: The Detroit Free Press

Would it be a good idea to consolidate dealerships and instead of Chevy Buick, GMC dealership make all dealerships just General Motors which include all GM vehicles? Especially if they are going to have core brands. Here is a break down of what I think they should do ( I would combine Buick with Cadillac.)The New GM dealership:Chevrolet - Impala (based off of Pontiac G8) - Malibu - Cruze - Spark - Camaro - Corvette - Orlando - VoltCadillac (Buick combined) - New La Crosse (Invicta model, cheaper than CTS) - CTS (include coupe) - Revise STS (New Model similar to 5 series BMW) - Escalade SUV - New SRX - Enclave - New DTS or Lucerne GMC - Combine Yukon, Tahoe, and Suburban (Include long wheel base version) - Combine Silverado and Sierra - Equinox - All heavy duty trucksMy take to reduce costs and consolidate GM. To big for all three brands of Chevy, GMC and Cadillac?

Opel and vauxhaul do not go against eachother. There is virtually little cost to rebadge opels into Vauxhaul. It is all in the name. Vauxhaul is Gm's UK brand. Opel is continental europe. They sell to different markets. Also GMC buyers are GMC buyers for a reason. Many of them won't go buy a chevy truck. So why lose lets say half your buyers when it costs you pennies on the dollar to rebadge them? The same goes on the reverse. Why would they stop selling their best selling vehicle the Silverado? That is honestly stupid. Also Buick is a viable brand. they have 200k a year sales and is their third best brand. Why get rid of it. Isn't it the bottom line the profits these bring in? I agree though with the Pontiac brand assesment fomoco fan.

Maybe make GMC an upscale option package on all Chevy trucks? Kind of like how it is already. That would also keep its prestige. And open up it's sales in Chevy dealerships that don't already have GMC.

They must be making a boat load of money from China with Buick. Why not just re-badge Chevys or Cadillac and sell them as Buicks in China and keep Pontiac here in the US? They have admitted that Pontiac sells more cars here, where is the logic? Does Buick sell enough here in the states to really be viable here?And while I’m opinion-ating..Take Cadillac a little farther up market and really make it compete with the Germans. Beat them at their own game. (I mean, if they can and still make a profit.) Have Pontiac become the all performance brand that would compete with BMW M series and AMG, at a discount of course, but also the STI’s and EVO’s so that it is an all round performance brand. Even make their entry models perform better than any of their shared platform cousins. (Except for the Corvette. Because you know that would be a very bad move to take that away.) Chevy, like was said, main stream. Hummer would do very well if they could have copied Fiskers idea with making an all wheel drive but with electric motors and have it powered by a 4 cylinder to get great mileage and still have all of, or even better, off road ability and utility. Could also be a great hybrid platform? Saturn could be used as a dealership idea, just get rid of the brand but sell GM vehicles through them so that they can retain their customer base. That way people would be treated with the respect and care that Saturn dealerships are know for and they could have a broad selection. I don’t know? Anyone agree with this?

...HERES ANOTHER REASON to keep BUICK: besides china, GM needs buick because they have surpassed LEXUS to become the most reliable/dependable car brand in the US (tying with jaguar). Buicks future looks bright..seems they will get some awesome new opels since saturn wont be..look at the new lacrosse! i believe in buick..they are a good seller for GM, who cares what age people are that buy them?? the ENCLAVE proved that you dont have to be 60+ to buy a Buick!!

fomoco... suburban is gms oldest nameplate and you want to kill it just like that?i think buick should fight japanese luxury and caddy should fight german/brit luxury...gmc can do what it does best... truckschevy... maintstreamand if pontiac has to be a niche brand so be it... who wants to see a torrent or vibe in the once legendary performance division anyways...

The gov't has told GM, you have too many brands to be profitable given your volumes. They cannot ignore what they have been told. If Buick is good in China, make it a China only brand. Pontiac can still exist but probably as a performance brand sold out of Chevy dealerships. This is the model that Holden use in Australia with HSV sold out of selected Holden dealerships and Opel with OPC the same.The sad fact is that a number of dealers need to close and the only easy way to do this is via bankruptcy.

Food for thought: Buick sold 91,803 cars in the U.S. in 2008 and 137,197 vehicles total in. Cadillac sold 105,293 cars and 161,159 vehicles total. Pontiac, meanwhile, sold 246,659 cars and 267,348 vehicles total. Buick isn't far behind Cadillac, and neither even came close to catching Pontiac.

CHEVROLET: MAINSTREAM CARS AND CUVs, NO TRUCKS AT ALL (SUBURBAN, TAHOE, SILVERADO GONE)PONTIAC: SPORT MAINSTREAM, BRING AN ALPHA-BASED G5 AND G6, KEEP THE G8 AND SOLSTICE, THE CAMARO SHOULD HAVE BEEN A PONTIAC IF YOU ASK ME, AND IN A FEW YEARS MAYBE EVEN THE CORVETTE COULD BE A PONTIAC.GMC: TRUCK ONLY BRAND, LUXURY AND WORKHORSES (ACADIA, TERRAIN GONE)CADILLAC: PURE LUXURY, BENTLEY, MAYBACH FIFGTERSBUICK: CADILLAC´S REPLACEMENTS, BMW, LEXUS, INFINITI, MERCEDES, AUDI AND LINCOLN FIGHTERS.OLDSMOBILE: COMING BACK IN 2016 OR SO, THIS CARS WILL BE THE OPELS, HOLDENS AND DAEWOOS, DAEWOOS WILL NO LONGER BE CHEVY, THEY WILL GO UPMARKET.SAAB: KILLED OR SOLDHUMMER: KILLED OR SOLDVAUXHALL: KILLED OR SOLD

I would like to see GM get bold. If Buick is so important to China (more than Cadillac?), then spin Buick off into a separate company based in China, and move production over there. Buicks are not selling in substancial quantities in the US. I also think that GM should make the bet that if GMC were closed down, those buyers would purchase the Chevy from which the GMC model is based. Just offer a premium trim for each Chevy truck (G Class?) and sell it to GMC customers.I really could see the Buick Enclave as a modernized (for the times) Cadillac Escalade. Huge, bold and elegant, but not as humongous as the current Escalade. Since Cadillac is ditching the XLR Convertible, I think a Caddy based on the existing Solstice platform would be great.GM=Chevy+Cadillac sounds good to me. Platforms distinct to each brand, and each brand focused on it's target market and competitors. Why split your ad budget for multiple flavors of the same car (G6, Aura, Malibu)? Use that money to better market your 2 core brands... mainstream and luxury.I say ditch Buick along with the rest, and market Caddy to the Chinese instead.

They have to be keeping Buick because of China only. I have not seen more than a couple of new Buicks in the last few months. I admit that I don't get what a Buick is supposed to be. Caddy is the luxo brand. What is Buick? sort of luxury? There are many more Saturns being sold domestically than Buicks and they are ridding GM of Saturn because it is losing money. I think GM should consider GM dealerships where you can buy models from all of their brands. That way they could keep the best cars from each division and stop building the products that are not profitable.

just make them a real business, all of them.each needs to make money, no other way!if something is not a business let it go.GM is paying too much on many things, they need to lower that, if not guess what.killing brands, closing plants, firing people is not all gm needs, they need to lower everybody salary, but they don't.

@ mallik727In 2008, GMC sold more vehicles than Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac, Saab or Saturn. It was GM's second-best seller behind Chevrolet. Despite being rebadged Chevrolets, GMCs sell very well and it costs GM comparatively little to design some new sheet metal for GMCs. Basically, the brand is a cash cow for GM, so there is no business reason to drop it.

the ONLY reason Buick is still around is because of China. Even Henderson said so basically "Henderson said, going on to mention that Buick is a leading brand in China, an important emerging car market."Oldsmobile was older than Buick so age has nothing to do with it. I would have kept Olds. Pontiac can go away. They don't offer anything that can't be easily sold under a Chevy badge and frankly I think to most consumers, Pontiac is the poster child of what the domestics offered for too long that chased buyers away. In good times maybe slightly restyled, tuned chevy's with a more adult image than Pontiac has had might work. Unfortunately now is not that time.

the reason buick is a core brand is because its over 100 years old. it was at one point the 2nd or 3rd best selling brand in america, and contrary to popular belief, a lot of people do buy them.all their other brands should either be off on their own, or shut down. gm needs to shrink, and ive said that for 2 or so years, right around the time that gm and toyota were battling each other for the number 1 spot. their production is pushing percieved demand.